Krasovic: John Fox tree bears mixed fruit

Denver Broncos head coach John Fox, front, listens as John Elway, the team's executive vice president of football operations, responds to questions about the team's loss to the Baltimore Raens in an AFC playoff game during a news conference at the team's headquarters in Englewood, Colo., on Monday, Jan. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
— AP

Denver Broncos head coach John Fox, front, listens as John Elway, the team's executive vice president of football operations, responds to questions about the team's loss to the Baltimore Raens in an AFC playoff game during a news conference at the team's headquarters in Englewood, Colo., on Monday, Jan. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
/ AP

Dennis Allen went 4-12 last season as the rookie head coach of the Raiders.

Better results should be expected of Mike McCoy, the Chargers' new hire who inherits a more talented team than Allen got in Oakland.

If McCoy’s Chargers win 54 percent of their games in his tenure, they'd match Jack Del Rio’s nine-year rate in Jacksonville.

What do Allen, Del Rio and McCoy have in common?

All were coordinators under John Fox and later became NFL head coaches.

The Fox Coaching Tree hasn't produced a Super Bowl champion.

But Fox took the Panthers to their only Super Bowl and both of his Broncos teams won the AFC West with McCoy as the offensive coordinator.

Critics blamed Fox for the playoff loss to the Ravens last Sunday, saying he was too conservative.

Then again, Peyton Manning said it was his decision -- not Fox's or McCoy's -- to hand off on third-and-7 instead of passing with the Broncos ahead 35-28.

McCoy is a former quarterback who, unlike Fox, Allen and Del Rio, earned his stripes on offense.

In Fox, he learned from a true head coach who hired and empowered able coordinators.

Fox, known in NFL circles as a lucid game-day coach and a flexible strategist, has gone to five postseasons in 11 years, while tallying a .534 winning percentage.

Del Rio's Jaguars went to two postseasons in nine years. One year after firing Del Rio, the Jags went 2-14 and fired their coach.

In all, McCoy spent 11 years as an offensive assistant to Fox. Had the Chargers hired Fox after the 2010 season, when he and the Panthers parted ways, I think they would've been in capable hands. McCoy will now go against both his former boss and a former Broncos colleague in Allen.

The AFC West bears the fingerprints of Fox, a former San Diego State defensive back and secondary coach. Let's just call it the John Fox Division.